Dare to Wear Men’s Edition: Crop-Tops
Influencers are the new form of advertising, more trustable and effective.
Ads communication, print or digital shape new trends, and make them digestible for the world. Unconsciously we are daily subjected to many inputs from social media and pop ups that define our new way of thinking.
An example in the fashion field was the appearance and disappearance of a casual garment or undergarment for the upper body, cut short to reveal tonic Abs: the crop-tops.
Disappearance of Men’s Crop Tops
Back in the 80s, no man was scared of wearing cropped tees. Allowing a glimpse of abs under your super-short tee was brave and fashionable. It was the 70s heritage: the pursuit of freedom, even in fashion. In the 90s, the iconic Prince of Bel-Air wasn’t afraid of showing his belly. Neither was the eternal Prince, the king of pop and R&B, who often dared to wear cropped tees. And yet, starting from the 00s, the raising of gender stereotypes in the fashion defined and standardized what men and women are expected to wear.
Cropped tees disappeared from Male’s closets and entered women’s. It became a standard. No one exhibited them on Male’s runways for a long time.
Attempts were made but, without any critics’ backing and enough confidence, they failed. In 2011 Calvin Klein tried to jump the gun with its Spring Summer Menswear collection, but it didn’t work out. Cropped tees were still seen as a female-only piece of clothing.
More recently, ASOS designed a crop top ‘for males,’ but it caused a stir on social media, and the male response was mostly over-dramatic.
But, surprisingly, males wearing crop-tops aren’t going just to disappear. They’re coming back, and this time, the revolution starts from the other side of the world. K-pop stars in South Korea are changing the game. Male Idols started wearing cropped tees, and the fans are loving it. SHINee’s Taemin was one of the first male idols, if not the first, to pull off the cropped look showing his tummy both on and off stage. EXO’s Kai and Monsta X’s Wonho both followed the path. As time goes by, more male-idols are starting to recognize how fashionable and delighting crop-tops are rather than seeing them as something strictly feminine.
